ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Phonetics

Phonetics is like a secret code that we use to talk to each other. This code is made up of different sounds called phonemes. Each phoneme makes a different sound that helps us understand what each other is saying. Just like how each letter in the alphabet makes a different sound, each phoneme does too.

When we talk, our brain tells our mouth and throat which phonemes to make. For example, if we wanted to say the word "cat", our brain would tell our mouth to make the sounds "kuh", "aah", and "tuh". And if we wanted to say the word "dog", our brain would tell our mouth to make the sounds "duh", "aww", and "guh".

Phonetics also helps us figure out how to spell words. If we hear someone say a word we don't know how to spell, we can use phonetics to break it down into the different sounds it's made up of. Then we can figure out how to spell it based on the different sounds we heard.

Overall, phonetics is like a secret code our brains use to talk and understand each other. It's how we use different sounds, or phonemes, to communicate with each other and spell words.